One to Drool Over: A Custom Breeding .270

Some time ago, I wrote about Ryan Breeding, a uniquely talented custom gun maker whose specialty is huge, horrifying rifles to be used on huge, horrifying animals. If you’re looking for a .505 Gibbs done right, Mr. Breeding is the guy to see.

However, he can build them small and light as well. This rifle was made for a woman hunter whose husband wanted to get her something special and, as she stands just a little over 5 feet tall and weighs 114 pounds, a hand cannon was not in order.

Here are the specs: The action is a Granite Mountain reproduction of the wonderful and long-gone G33/40 Mauser, with double square bridges. The blind magazine and all the hardware, including the trigger, and scope bases, are custom made by Breeding. The stock is a piece of Turkish walnut that probably grades out at Strike Me Blind, and because highly figured wood tends to be heavy, the lines of the stock are quite slim. The recoil pad is leather covered.

The .270 barrel is 21 inches long, and made by Pac-Nor. Length of pull is 13 inches even, and the weight, with a mercury recoil reducer in the stock and a Leica scope in Talley rings, is about 7 ½ pounds.

This rifle sold for $23,000. If you’d like to order something a bit less sumptuous, a similar .270 without the custom-made hardware and good, but not eye-searing walnut, is around $17,500, and the waiting time is between 2 ½ and 3 years.